he Effect of Narrative Therapy on Communication Skills, Emotional Expression and Empathy among Couples Intending to Marry

Having a stable marriage depends on effective communication skills, empathy, and social skills among couples. Narrative therapy with emphasis on life stories can help develop and enhance these skills.The main purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of narrative therapy model on communication skills, emotional expression and empathy among girls and boys whointended to get married in the city of Kashan.

This study was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test, and control group. The statistical population consisted of all girls and boys who intended to get married in Kashan city and were referred to Vesta Psychology Clinic in Kashan in 2019. Sixty individuals were selected by simple random sampling method and were randomly assigned into two groups (30 in narrative intervention and 30 in control group). The experimental group participated in 11 sessions of group narrative therapy. The control group did not receive any intervention. The research tools were King and Emmons Emotion Expressions Scale, Matson Communication Skills and Mehrabian and Epstein Empathy questionnaire. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to test the research hypotheses. The data were analyzed by SPSS software version 22.

Narrative therapy was effective in increasing communication skills scores from mean (SD) 46.7 (2.8) in pre-test to 69.1 (6.2) in post-test, P<0.001. In addition, Narrative therapy had increased emotional expression scores from mean (SD) 27.4 (3.3) in pre-test to 56.1 (6.1) in post-test, P<0.001. At last, Narrative therapy had an effect on empathy scores for boys and girls from 70.5 (20.2) in pre-test to 103 (27.2) in post-test, P<0.001). There were no significant differences between pre and post-tests scores in the control group.

The narrative therapy approach increased the communication skills, social expressing and empathy skills among couples who intended to get married